※ Note

This plot is a sequel to "Academy Rank 19983: Golden Fool."

Epilogue

...When was that, I wonder?

Ah, yes. It was the night I entered the middle school division.

After a disastrous time in elementary, I was given a rank in the 19980s—a level where it wasn't even a question of being near the bottom; it was beyond that.

Even so, back then, I still had hope. I thought if I won rank matches, I could climb up; that I could still turn my school life around.

I remember the stars were beautiful that night. I was captivated by the night sky looking up from the dormitory courtyard, and at the same time, I reached my hand out toward it.

"...It's so far away."

"But someday, I'll reach it."

Someday, I'll reach a place where I can grab those stars; I'll aim for the top of the academy. That was the vow I made in my young heart...

...After a long battle, the Golden Fool finally fell from her throne to the earth.

Having lost her throne, her wings, and the countless arms she commanded, she sits there in a daze.

The goldification that had spread throughout the academy is rapidly receding, returning to the original scenery. She likely has no power left to maintain it.

"............Ahaha."

Surrounded by Guest and the other students, the first thing to escape her lips was a small laugh.

"Ahaha, ahaha, ahahaha... even after doing all this."

"I got this 'hand,' I gathered 'Value,' I chose my prey, I even gave up being human..."

"And yet, I still can't reach it."

With hollow eyes, she mutters words to no one in particular. Gradually, tears begin to spill from those eyes.

"............A dream. This is a dream."

"I did my very best. I did everything I possibly could."

"And yet... for nothing to change... this must be a bad dream."

One could have dismissed it as ugly escapism. But perhaps, the Golden Fool can no longer be reached.

".........The stars."

Softly, the Golden Fool reaches her hand toward the sky.

Some braced themselves, wondering if she would try something else, but there was no trace of the tragic figure crushed by reality, nor the savage monster that had just been rampaging. There was only something pure.

"............It's so far away."

"They're so sparkly and beautiful, yet I can never reach them."

"How mean..."

Crr-ack...

Just as the sound is noticed, the Golden Fool's body begins to turn into gold. Whether it is a surge of power running wild or the side effects she had been suppressing, she no longer has the strength to stop it.

"...Even so... someday... I too... will go there..."

Those were the last sounds to come from her mouth.

Her body is consumed in an instant, and just as she named herself, she becomes a Golden Fool in the truest sense.

For an incident that embroiled the entire academy, it was an all too abrupt end.

Afterward, the existence of the single female student who became the Golden Fool was erased from all records.

Whether it was punishment for what she had done, or a mercy to prevent her name from going down in history in such a way, the truth is uncertain.

The golden statue she became was taken to the infirmary, but it was concluded that she was "no longer even a life form, making restoration or resurrection impossible." Later, she vanished without a trace at the hands of someone unknown.

Thus, the rebellion of a certain student who believed her presence "made no difference whether she was there or not" was, true to her belief, painted over by the continuing daily life of the academy...